# Why did 'Jason' briefly become such a popular name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-jason-briefly-become-such-a-popular-name/242036>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 26, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-jason-briefly-become-such-a-popular-name/242036 "2004-04-26T04:56:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-jason-briefly-become-such-a-popular-name/242036/2 "2004-04-26T12:03:36Z")

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There was a character named Jason Weber on _The Guiding Light_ in the 1965-66 season. The name didn’t get to be on the top 10 list until 1971, but it may have started to become common in 1965, then become more and more common until it was one of the top 10 names. Alan Thicke’s character on _Family Ties_ was also named Jason, but this was during 1982-1989, so it seems more likely that the character was given a name that would have been very common at the time. It’s very unlikely that someone who was the character’s age in 1982 would have had that name – far more likely he would have been a John or Bob or Bill. (I wonder how likely it would have been for someone in 1955 to be named Ward.)

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